My favorite games to play during summer are chill as heck, straightforward yet addictive, and you can play most of them while keeping your attention turned toward the people you’re spending your free time with. These games are perfect summer pastimes.
1Dave the Diver
Dave the Diverwas one of the best games I played in 2023 and that’s saying something, considering what a banger 2023 was for gaming. I love so much about this game, especially its meticulously designed and oh-so-addictive gameplay loop. This involves fishing, tending the restaurant two times per day to earn cash, unlocking new equipment, and recipes, exploring underwater areas, completing activities on the surface, and earning new swag for the restaurant.
On top of that, there’s an exciting story, goofy characters, and quality humor. You’ll encounter a number of unique boss battles and the game packs in so much content that you can have dozens of hours of fun before seeing the end credits.
Best of all is the fact that, aside from those nerve-wracking moments during your restaurant shifts and a couple of boss battles,Dave the Diveris a game where you can sit back, relax, and play the game in second gear.
2A Short Hike
Charming 3D pixel art visuals, a tiny island to explore, lots of stuff to collect and stories to hear, and a not-so-short hike to tackle areA Short Hike’s main building blocks. This is a super chill game where you play as Claire, a teenage bird with a quest to reach Hawk Peak and get a cellphone signal to make an important call.
I finished the game over a couple of sittings in just one afternoon, and the game was a ton of fun. I recommend taking your time to explore Hawk Peak Provincial Park in full, meeting as many quirky NPCs as you may, and trying to perform as many optional activities as possible. These activities include cool mini-games to play and intriguing story tidbits to unfold.
A Short Hikewas so successful it kickstarted a whole new “cozy adventure” micro-genre that gave birth to other neat experiences such asLil Gator Game,Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip, andHaven Park. If you end up likingA Short Hike,you ought to play them all. These are super chill summer games that you will finish in a jiffy, but remember for years to come.
3Loddlenaut
Here’s yet another cozy underwater adventure. UnlikeDave the Diver,Loddlenautis a game you can finish in a couple of hours, during which you don’t have to worry about tending the bar or fighting giant underwater creatures. Here, all you’ve got to do is clean the ocean on a faraway planet.
The best part aboutLoddlenautis the fact that, as you pick up trash and make the planet GUP-14’s ocean a better place for everyone, you also discover its adorable natives, axolotl-like Loddles that look as cute as their name suggests.
4Unpacking
I loveUnpackingbecause of its simple yet engaging puzzles and its brilliant environmental storytelling, capable of conveying the game’s story via simple actions of unpacking your stuff and creating a new home each time you embark on a new unpacking escapade.
The game is so good at calming you down after a stressful day at work, allowing you to organize your perfect home time and time again. And as the story progresses and in-game years march on, you’ll create a personal relationship with a person you’ve never met, a relationship built solely through possessions you need to find a new place for, in a new home, over and over again.
5Tchia
What ifThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wilddidn’t focus on combat and took place in a Pacific archipelago instead of Hyrule? Well, the final product would most likely look similar toTchia, but not too much. While the game’s elevator pitch is that it’s something of aBOTWclone,Tchiais far from being a carbon copy of the Switch classic.
InTchia, you can explore the islands as any creature or object you stumble upon on your journey. Instead of exploring the world to find new and more powerful gear, meet new characters, and unfold new stories, world exploration in Tchia is driven by the desire to see every arresting vista the dreamy world has to offer.
The in-game world is based on the New Caledonia archipelago, located halfway between Australia’s east coast and Fiji. Pet every single animal you meet (seriously, you can peteveryanimal in the game), and discover every side-quest the game has in store because these activities are fundamental to the game’s enjoyment.
I recommend just forgetting about the main story and focusing on the side content, which mostly rocks (aside from too many music mini-games). If you stumble upon a particularly difficult platformer section, don’t forget you may skip those parts. If you’re looking for more chill exploration games, I recommendSableif you’re down for some sandy vibes orAbzuif you’d rather embark upon an underwater adventure.
6Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
InAlba: A Wildlife Adventure, you play as Alba, a young girl who plans to spend her summer with her grandparents on a small island located in the Mediterranean, filled with animals to discover and photograph, but also to help.
The island’s mayor is trying to make the idyllic Mediterranean paradise more attractive to tourists, which means they will do anything to build a new and ugly resort that will destroy the island’s biodiversity.
Enter Alba, who will help the island and its denizens by starting a mini-revolution and doing a ton of good deeds. While you’re making the world a better place, you may also photograph and document every animal species living on Pinar del Mar. Doing that is a joy because the game’s open world is contained yet super dense, with almost every nook and cranny offering either a new animal to document, a story bit to unfold, lively new characters to talk to, or a new area to explore.
I loved every second ofAlba: A Wildlife Adventure, and I recommend everyone to take their time, explore the island at their leisure, and remember that this is achillectathon: there’s no reward for finishing the game as soon as possible.
7Little Kitty, Big City
After chilling a bit too hard and falling from a highrise cat’s cradle, it’s time for this little kitty to find its way back home. But not before causing some mayhem, meeting some peppy new friends, playing a ton of mini-games, and exploring the city to your heart’s content.
Little Kitty, Big Cityhas nailed the cat movement mechanic, and when you combine that with a genuinely fun world to explore, a ton of different ways to cause havoc, cool hats to collect, and a game that doesn’t overstay its welcome, the end product is a perfect summer title you can leisurely play while waiting for the sweet embrace of darkness to come and take the scorching heat away.
Strayis another feline adventure I recommend playing, but I think you’d be better off withUntitled Goose Gameif you want to play something more in the vein ofLittle Kitty, Big City.
8FAR: Changing Tides
FAR: Changing Tidesis a slow-burning casual 2D adventure that allows you a ton of time for introspection or, if you’re playing the game while having fun with friends, a ton of time to do other stuff while your slow-like-molasses ship advances through the post-apocalyptic scenery, taking you home, wherever that is.
If you end up likingFAR: Changing Tides, you should definitely play its prequel,FAR: Lone Sails. It’s quite similar but takes place in a desert instead of in (and below) the sea.
9Jusant
Jusant’s climbing mechanics thread the perfect line between engaging and complicated. The end result is a game that packs hours of captivating gameplay that shouldn’t frustrate the player even for a second. You can climb without worrying about having enough rope to reach the next part of a level, and you won’t need to spend more time planning your next route than actually climbing it.
Aside from the best climbing mechanics I’ve ever seen,Jusantalso features breathtaking visuals (the game is filled with otherworldly vistas that look so alien yet so familiar), an unpretentious yet emotional story, and a number of collectibles that give you a glimpse into the events that took place before the game. It is a brilliant, cozy climbing game and, at least to me, the best game from DON’T NOD to date.
10The Touryst
The Tourystwas one of the first games I beat on myNintendo Switch Liteand I loved it. I still do. This is a lightweight action-adventure that doesn’t take itself too seriously, offering a good number of fairly compact levels to explore. Each level contains collectibles, secrets, and puzzles that won’t try to squeeze the last ounce of your brain juice but instead focus on being fun to solve, which is way better in my opinion.
It’s a brilliant game that’s now also available on just about every platform, with 120Hz support on consoles like PS5 and Xbox Series X.
If you’re looking for a similar, relatively lightweight adventure with cute visuals and contained levels that don’t require a map to keep your bearings,The Last Campfirefits that bill perfectly.
